A Different Route
by SilverWolfCub
Summary: The Master decided to play by his own rules, and instead of becoming Harry Saxon, he went a different route. Master/Doctor


It was a Tuesday.

The Tuesday in question was the Tuesday that everyone was going to die on. It was exactly what Yana and Chanthro was trying to stop, but having no luck doing so.

That is, until Yana found and opened a small silver pocketwatch.

But something went wrong (or right) when he got his memories back. The drums were back, but they were quiet, easily forgotten and ignored. And he didn't get all of his memories back, either.

He didn't remember what the Doctor did to Gallifrey. He only remembers that it's gone.

Still, the Doctor had caused problems to him on earlier standpoints, and they needed to be avenged either way. One of the first things that came to mind was to regenerate and take his Tardis. He was out helping other people right now, he wouldn't notice til it was to late.

But then that Martha girl had seen his pocket watch, and she knew what it was, so maybe the Doctor was showing up earlier.

"...Are you okay?" Chanthro, due to Martha's request, tried to stop using the prefixes and suffixes she had been using for so long, and the Master actually quite appreciated it. The Doctor's newest companion was a bright girl, tough and challenging as well. The Master kinda liked her. Well, he wouldn't kill her, at least.

Oo. An idea just popped into his brain. What a great way to make the Doctor pay. "I am fine." He assured, hiding his hands behind his back. Just thinking about regenerating, in the old body he was in, caused him to start. "Continue on, I'll be back in a few minutes."

He turned and left, checking back to make sure Chanthro didn't look suspicious or anything. The alien had gone back to what she was doing before, and the Master hummed, closing the door.

It was easy to get to the Tardis from there, and he locked the door to the room shortly before he knocked on the Tardis door. "Hey girl, remember me?"

Of course she did. She didn't like him as much as she liked the Doctor, but she remembered all of the adventures they went on. The Master was also acting civil, which worked like a charm. He had learned through Yana that being nice actually worked better than being evil sometimes. He understood the Doctor a little more on that aspect.

The Tardis hummed, greeting the Master telepathically before opening her door. The Master gave her an affectionate pat before entering. He felt slightly apologetic for what he was going to do, but the Tardis wouldn't remember it, so it was no big deal.

He had just finished setting the coordinates when someone banged on the outside of the machine. Even though the Tardis was completely full of the Doctor's smell, he could still make out the difference between old and new, and could tell that it was the Doctor outside.

The Tardis whined, confused. She would start being hostile in a moment. "I'm sorry, but this is for the Doctor's own good." He lied to calm the machine, making sure his mind was blocked so that she couldn't read it. "I'll come back after I'm done to help."

And he flipped the final switch, and the Tardis was gone. Silently, because that switch had turned off the breaks.

————

They landed a few years into the twenty-first century, landing softly. The Master checked outside before fixing his watch and closing back the doors. From what he's read from the Tardis' computers, this was the first time he visited earth after the time war. After he was the lone survivor, besides the Master.

So he set the coordinates and went there, a day or so before the Doctor was supposed to arrive, to not bother the Tardis as much. She wouldn't last much longer, sadly, but he would make sure that he treated the other Tardis better. The Tardis never did anything to him, she deserved to be mourned.

At least, in this timeline before it closes.

But mourning could come later. Now, he needed to regenerate.

The thing about regenerating that the Doctor never seemed to get is that he _can _control it, to a point. He always said it was just because he wanted to chance it and let the world decide, but because of that he kept on getting through into older bodies, which made him die quicker and lose his lives. The Master's only controlled his regeneration once before, but he's helped other timelords control theirs when they change, he knows how.

Which is why he changes his regeneration now.

He had read up on the Tardis' history since the time war, and took special interest in the first few companions he had. From how the Tardis spoke of Rose Tyler, he'd never be able to be her for long, running off and getting in trouble and the likes. Well, maybe, but she does it because she's curious and naive, the Master would do it because he wants to kill someone without Doctor knowing.

Instead, he pinpoints and collects traits that all of his companions have in common, keeping them in mind when his regeneration finally overcomes him. He needs to be curious, adventurous, and innocent, mostly.

It actually sounded a lot like _him_ when he and the Doctor use to go on adventures.

He is forgetting one thing though. And that thing showed up once his regeneration was done.

"Oh." She said to no one in particular, before looking at the Tardis console. "I'm a girl."

The Tardis hummed in agreement.

In that one moment, the Master felt dozens of alternate timelines close. He also, quiet suddenly, felt the timeline the Tardis was apart of close.

The Tardis shuttered, barely able to hold itself together. She whines in pain, and the Master patted the Tardis apologetically, before running towards the closet. He-she needed to change before she could leave.

The Tardis, focused on not disappearing didn't put thought into what a girl could wear in the closet, and the Master grabbed the closest things to the entrance that she could, some jeans, a sweater, and boots. Not his style, but it could be _her _style. It did feel quite comfortable when she put it on.

"Alright girl, one more stop then I'll be out." She slid her hand along the side of the Tardis as she moved. Her regeneration made her a lot more sympathetic to the Tardis. "Then you can rest with your Doctor. I truly am sorry."

The Tardis didn't shout in her head, didn't sound angry. She just whined, sad and sorrowful. The Master's hearts pinched.

She finally came upon the room she needed, and got no resistance when she tried to open it. The Doctor wouldn't feel it, because the Doctor of this Tardis no longer existed. She sighed when she opened the door.

It was her old room, tidied up from the mess she made when she left. She wondered if the Doctor did it, before deciding that of course he did it. If his tenth incarnation is anything like his past ones, then he probably did it with that sad far away look he always had. The Master knew he did that a lot, even if she barely knew that incarnation at all.

She couldn't look back on past memories to much, since the Tardis was growing to be in more and more pain and she didn't want to make her suffer much more. So instead, she just grabbed a bag of stuff she left on his ship that she shouldn't of left before making her way to the Tardis exit.

"I really am sorry." She murmured, opening the door and stepping out. Now that all of living beings inside the Tardis were gone, the Tardis disappeared into thin air, completely gone forever. She stared at that spot for a whole minute before frowning, knocking herself in the head. "Ugh, I said innocent, not sympathetic!" She growled to herself. "What's with this regeneration, I'm oozing empathy!"

She grumbled as she stomped her way towards town, digging through her bag for a device she's been missing for centuries. She used it as a child in the academy whenever she didn't want to go to class. It made her or the Doctor sick for however long she wanted, and she could make it go away with the click of a button.

She didn't know how it worked on humans, but she could recalibrate it. She didn't actually want to kill anybody right now, so she would try her best not to until she felt like it.

She passed by a store with large windows out front, and stopped to stare st her reflection. She had a slender build with medium height, up'd by the heels on her bots. Her hair was brown, long, and wavy, almost like the girl version of the 10th doctor's hair (she _wouldn't _think about that-) and her eyes were hazel, more brown then green. The jeans were black and tight, along with the calf high boots, but the sweater was a grayish blue. She looked a little emo, compared to everyone else's bright colors, but it wasn't by much and no one gave her a second look. She wasn't wearing the right clothing for the year, but it was comfortable so she didn't care.

She was about to move away, but she stopped, turning to the side. Oh. "I have a bum." She breathed, going to touch it before realizing that she was in public. "And boobs. Wow. I forgot that females got that."

Before she could forget herself and start feeling herself up, she left, pleased with her appearance. It took her awhile to find anyone that knew Rose Tyler, but once she did it was easy to dig into his mind and find where she lived. The walk was a few minutes, but when she arrived and knocked on the door it was worth it.

"Oh, um hello." Rose opened the door all the way, showing her naivety. "I think you've got the wrong house."

"No, I don't." The Master assured, stepping into the house. "I was looking for Jackie. Is she here?"

"Uh, no, she's out at the moment." Rose still stood by the door, slightly peeved but mostly confused. "I'll tell her you dropped by- what's your name?"

"It doesn't matter." The Master said before holding up her sickness device. She had set it for influenza for half a week, making it slightly longer just in case. Rose sniffed before looking at her oddly. The Master smiled simply before leaving. Her work was done here.

She booked a hotel with the limited earth money she'd stolen from Rose's place. It was a small place, but very close to where the Doctor should land his Tardis.

She wondered what he would look like. She deliberately didn't check when she could of, wanting the surprise. The tenth doctor was pretty narcissistic, she wondered when that trend started.

She wondered if his narcissism affected his regenerations in any way. He was good looking in his tenth one. What about the ninth?

Her sleep was light because the drums in her head had turned into the Tardis whaling, only turning back when daybreak hit. She looked awful in the mirror, but she didn't really know how to touch herself up at all. She did what she could to fix her hair before she washed her face and left it at that.

She couldn't do much more, since she heard the Tardis, no matter how far it was.

Quickly, she constructed a mental block, one so crafty and strong that the Doctor wouldn't even notice it was there. She took memories from Yana's life, using his female friend and made them her own, scattering the memories in front of the wall to not put him off. Lastly, she covered her own time lord scent, doing her best to close them off before using some perfume she again stole from Rose's place to get rid of the rest. Luckily, the story she would tell him would make him understand why she might smell time lord to him.

She skipped out of the room, snatching a croissant from a room service employee as they passed. She was out by the time she finished, and she slowed her skip to a timid walk, forcing tears to start in her eyes, and making her body shaky.

She was noticed immediately.

She knew who he was immediately, the smell was overwhelming. The Doctor was tall and mostly bald and oh Rassilon those _ears. _Still, he had a confidence to him that surprised her. The confidence wasn't a good one, but one that he felt was sad to carry. The Master's new empathy tinged.

It seemed like the Doctor wouldn't even pay her attention if it wasn't for the fact that she still smelt slightly timelord and he just got back from a war with timelords. His head snapped towards her before relaxing, writing her off as a crying human.

"Are you-" she sniffled, making it as real as possible. "Are you the Doctor?"

Yep, that grabbed his interest. That was the hook to his curiosity. It never changed with him.

"I am." He said in a thick accent. The Master wondered what her accent was for a moment before forgetting it. "Who told you about me?"

She made her face go into one of panic. "I-I was walking and-and then this-this guy came out of no-nowhere and-"

"Alright, breath." The Doctor place his hands on her shoulders, and she could feel the telepathic command to calm down flow through her. It hit the wall and didn't it do anything, but she did calm down to trick him. "Calm down. Now, what were you saying?"

She sniffles once more. "This man came a-and threatened me. He said h-he'd hurt my family if I d-didn't find the Doctor and tell you w-what he said."

"What did he say?" The Doctor was very curious, and she knew that she had broken his line of thought from whatever he was doing before. Sadly, she also knew that she didn't want to change the timeline to much. She'd even keep to when he regenerated into ten, if she could. Luckily, he did it on the ship so she knows when it should happen.

She had a lot to keep track of. Good thing she has perfect memory.

"He said his n-name was the M-Master." She stuttered, looking up at the Doctor, who's eyes had gone wide in surprised horror. She smiled. Hook, line, and sinker. Now she was somehow connected to a past time lord. "I-I passed out for a bit and I appeared here. He said something while I w-was out though. Something abo-about living plastic."

She didn't think it'd be this easy to get through to the war wary Doctor. But suddenly he had grabbed her hand and had smiled at her, a pained one for him but it was supposed to help her so she went with it. "We'll find out what happened." He assured, and the Master suddenly realized why he had companions throwing themselves at him left and right. "Now, you know my name, but what's yours?"

"The Ma-" she swallowed her words, before hiding it behind embarrassment. "-ze. My name's Maze. Weird name I know but I like it so-"

"It's a beautiful name, Maze." The Doctor smiled. "Now, Maze, let's go figure this whole thing out, yeah?"

———

They solved the living plastic problem quicker then before, the Master thinks. Now, of course, they never found the Master, but the Doctor didn't blame her, instead he blamed himself for letting him escape. The Master has to try hard not to laugh.

She wasn't surprised when he asked if she wanted to come inside the Tardis, but she had to pretend to be. "It's a little cramped." She murmured.

He chuckled. "There's enough room. Promise."

The Master touched the Tardis, making sure to send subliminal messages of awe and wonder (mixed with a little bit of love) to her. Enough to make her feel human. The Tardis didn't try to speak to her, but it didn't shut her out like it did other companions before.

"She likes you." The Doctor noticed.

"It's bigger on the inside." The Master tried to sound amazed. "It's gorgeous." She added, mostly to please the Tardis.

"That she is." The Doctor gave her a pat, before remembering what they were doing and jumping up to set coordinates. They weren't done with the living plastic.

"She?" The Master pretended to question, before shrugging, holding a hand on the wall. "She's gorgeous." She repeated.

The Doctor's smile was genuine this time.

When he invited her to stay, after it was all over, she, of course, gladly accepted. She wanted to stay in her old room, and she bets she could actually make it work without making the Doctor suspicious, so she tried. "Uh, Doctor?"

The Doctor hummed by the consol, obviously trying to find the next amazing place to bring her. "Yes, Maze?"

"I don't know what this is-" she held out a hand. "-But I feel like I'm being drawn to a room down this hallway."

He looked up. "Pick any room you'd like, Maze." The Doctor seemed to really like her made up name. "Besides the second one on the left. That one's mine."

She was already gone by the time he finished, standing next to her old room. "It's this one." She said, holding a hand to the door. "I feel like I want this one."

The Doctor looked up before startling. He almost runs over, taking her hand from the door and placing each of his hands over her head, looking into her eyes to see if she had any problems.

He was also checking her mind. Looking for anything the Master might've put in it. She didn't know how hard he'd look, so she pretended to be startled, making her thoughts rush around and batter the Doctor by accident. He released her moments later, face slightly pinched but relieved otherwise. "Not this room." He said quietly.

"Why not?" She asked softly, curious. "Something's pulling me towards it, and this isn't your room."

"It's-" he paused, obviously not going to tell her it's the Master's right after he supposedly attacked her. "-an old friend's. Lots of memorabilia in that room, and I want to remember…"

Maybe he wouldn't allow it. Maybe she shouldn't push, she just got here. "Alright." She sighed, before crossing the hallway and choosing the room right next to the Doctor's, just to see his reaction. She opened the door to a single bed room, armed with a dresser, mirror, and bathroom. Nothing more. "I'll use this one."

The Doctor brightened, and he moved away from her old room. It took him a while to let go of the handle, though. "Great. Now, are you hungry?"

————

They had some adventures. They were nice. She still wasn't feeling the whole killing thing, so she didn't. Maybe it was her new female body. Maybe it was the traits she programmed into it. Maybe it was the fact that she could still sometimes hear the old Tardis crying out. She doesn't know. She doesn't really care. She's having fun, surprisingly.

One of the first places they went was to the end of earth. There was a malfunction that killed some people, so of course the Doctor had to help out and fix it. It turned out to be the last human, just a flab of skin now. Cassandra looked at her funny, thinking she was human. She had a greedy look in her eyes, so the Master didn't care much when the Doctor killed her.

That part did surprise her. The Doctor doesn't kill, at least, not often. The Master didn't know how to feel about that herself, but she knew what she had to do as a companion, and gave him a thorough berating when they got back to the Tardis. Though she ended it with a smile, saying she had a fun time and said goodnight with a kiss on the cheek. Just to mess with him.

The Master quickly noticed that this regeneration enjoyed smaller acts of evil more than bigger acts. She'd had more fun teasing the Doctor then she had killing people. It was strange.

The Tardis crying slowly got quieter in her head. It took the drums with it.

They went back to the 1800s for a bit. The Master had forgotten about needing to blend in, so when the Doctor literally dragged her back into the Tardis and to the Wardrobe, she almost screamed at him. That wasn't in Maze's character, though, so she restrained herself and just grabbed a dress and changed.

The Doctor called her beautiful, even though she was a human. She had a great chuckle at that, which the Doctor didn't understand.

"Nothing." She said before grabbing the Doctor's wrist. She didn't feel comfortable enough when he grabbed her hand. It felt too much like old times. "Let's go."

People were coming back from the dead. They weren't in Naples, but Cardiff, which didn't really put Master one way or another but he pretended like that was a big deal. She can say one thing about the Doctor, though.

He runs towards screaming somehow even faster than she does.

She really did miss this.

Well, when she wasn't being chloroformed. Maybe she is no better than Rose Tyler, but she was curious about what happened to the body of the old lady, and she knew the Doctor would want to see it soon enough. Saying that, she was also use to being respected and even feared wherever she went, so it surprised her.

When she woke up in a room full of coffins and alive dead people she almost giggled. She could imagine the Doctor, proud that he saved her as the dead circled around her. To bad, because unlike his other companions, she knew how to fight.

The Doctor ran into the room to find her sitting on top of one of the coffins, reading one of the books inside while the dead laid crumpled on the floor, knocked out. "Took your time, didn't ya?" She laughed.

She made a mistake when aliens landed in London. It wasn't to big, but it caught the Doctor's eye and she knew he was curious.

"It's the farting." She said when the Doctor was stumped. "They're aliens that fart, apparently. They're-" That was her mistake. She was about to say that it was probably a Slitheen, but she caught herself. The Doctor looked at her curiously. "-Farting aliens." She ended lamely.

The Doctor stared at her for a good while, and the Master bit her tongue. It was only for a few moments, but it was enough.

Then the Doctor gave her a key to the Tardis and told her to wait for him. It all ended in the explosion of Parliament, which the Master enjoyed spectacularly. Even the Doctor said it was fantastic.

She felt the timeline change almost the moment she left the Tardis and walked into the museum. The Doctor didn't seem to notice, but the Master felt it shift, branching into another direction. She wondered what she would do differently.

It was an alien museum, which didn't worry her all that much, but she knew the Doctor would probably get caught at some point, so she made sure not to leave his side. That's probably where the time line changed, because there was an adorable British boy that definitely would've caught the Master's eye if she like humans. But without the interest, she left him alone.

It wasn't long before the Doctor somehow talked himself into seeing whatever was screaming down below. The Master couldn't go with him, but she was allowed to watch with the others. They were all snickering, as if expecting something funny to happen.

The lights turned on and the Master almost strangled them all. There was _nothing _funny about a Dalek. She's never seen the Doctor have so much severe terror before.

She's never seen him so _angry _before either. It made her shudder.

But she did learn something from watching. The Doctor was the one that ended the Daleks in the time war. Maybe that's why he survived when the others didn't. It seemed like the Dalek was just as afraid of the Doctor as the Doctor was of the Dalek.

The Master was to busy digesting the new information to realize that there was a good amount more of security around them when she met back up with the Doctor. They knew about him, and she wasn't paying enough attention to stop them from strapping him up to a painful machine.

Only she could hurt the Doctor. That was no one else's right. After the first gasp of pain, the Master felt something she hasn't felt in a long time.

The urge to kill.

A small smile lit her face, and while everyone was focused on the Doctor, she elbowed the guard holding her in the gut, running off before they could stop her. The Doctor told her to keep running, but she barely heard. They had a Dalek here. She knew how a Dalek worked. It'd be easy once she was done.

She made it down to the alien easily. "Listen up, and listen good." She hissed as she stepped forward. "I'm going to release you, but only if you don't burn me while doing so, capiche?"

The Dalek actually followed along, startled by her tone. She tore into the Dalek's front compartment, staying away from the Dalek inside and just messing with the controls instead. After a few minutes, she finished, grinning proudly before closing it up pressing the button to release the chains. "Have fun!"

As she ran back to the Doctor, equipped with a baton and a taser she found, she felt the timeline shift back into order, mostly. She smiled and started to skip.

She's been doing that a lot more recently. Oh well, she'd rather skip then slowly go insane from the drums and the Tardis. She actually quite liked the coping mechanisms installed into this regeneration. She hoped they stayed.

The alarm was ringing by the time she got back. The room with the Doctor was still full, but this time there was who looked to be the owner of the museum with him.

She tased the first person she came across, whacking the next across the face before doubling back and kicking the next guy in the stomach. She tased one more guy in the neck before coming face to face with the owner.

"M-Maze." The Doctor groaned, still panting. "What's going on?"

"The Dalek got out." She said curtly, glaring at the owner with daggered eyes. "The Doctor told you."

The Doctor's eyes had hardened. "Let me go if you want to live."

The owner took to long thinking so the Master just hit him in the stomach with her baton before tasing him. He fell and the Master went to the control board.

She shuddered as she let him go. She might not prefer killing anymore, but violence was still an exhilarating experience.

"You didn't have to do that." The Doctor muttered, barely caring. His mind was focused on the Dalek. He didn't need to be, though. The Dalek would malfunction and self destruct in ten minutes or so. She planned it that way.

"There's a Dalek lose, and that seems like a big deal." The Master said. "Now comeon, go put on a shirt."

She also learned that she actually quite liked the 9th Doctor's outfit. She stole his jacket on multiple occasions. Enough that they made a game out of it.

The next adventure the Master actually cared enough to remember was when they met captain Jack Harkness. She never met him before, but she understands why the Doctor doesn't travel with him all the time. The man was way too attractive for his own good.

So she might've been a bit at fault. So she might've chased after a boy in a gas mask. So she might've grabbed a rope that came from nowhere. It all ended with her in Jack's arms and even though he was a human he was a good looking human so she counted that as a job well done.

She blames her newfound female hormones.

The day ended with a new companion, and her and the Doctor dancing. It also ended with her cackling, falling to the Tardis floor from laughter. She may have gotten the Tardis to let her in the Doctor's room once he went to sleep. With a gas mask and a dull voice, 'are you my mummy?' has never made someone so scared before.

She teased him for a while after that.

There was only one time that the Master completely went against what the Doctor was doing, and that's when he took a Slitheen out on a date. Sure, she trusted him to not be an idiot and let her loose, but she still didn't like it. Jack said she might be jealous. She said she wasn't, but Jack didn't believe her. She kissed him, mostly because that was the only way to shut him up, before leaving.

She went spying on the Doctor.

He seemed to preoccupied with the Slitheen to notice her, which was great, because she would never live it down if the Doctor knew what she was doing.

The drug didn't work. Neither did the poisonous dart. So she went for begging, at the end, and the Master skipped back to the Tardis happy.

It didn't last long, because Jack couldn't take care of her while the Master and Doctor were gone. She was so focused on trying to fix whatever was wrong with it, that she didn't notice the Slitheen until it was wrapped around her throat.

After everything had ended, the Doctor was checking her neck for any problems when he told Jack to go get a cold wash cloth.

"What's that for?" She asked once he left.

"Nothing." The Doctor said. "I just needed him out of the room."

"Oh?" The Master quirked an eyebrow. "Why's that?"

"I needed to ask you. What's going on between you two?"

The Master's smile turned into a smirk. "Nothing, but is that some jealousy I hear in you, Doctor?"

He snorted. "You're brilliant, Maze. Fantastic, even, but you're human."

"Only date your own species?" She pouted. "What would you do if I was a timelord?"

He didn't answer. She didn't expect one.

—————

The tv station was great fun for the Master. She knew the answer to every question, so it wasn't even a challenge. She won quickly and easily, breaking the robot as she won because they were stupid enough to leave a direct access panel to it underneath all of the oppenants stands.

It was easy to find Jack, really. She started scrolling through tv channels until she found the one that he'd have the most fun in being, and there he was. Naked. The Master didn't really care though. The man's attractive, and the Master had long since forgotten her time lord training. Don't participate, only watch? No, that wouldn't work. This regeneration was to flirty for that.

"As much as I like this sight." She said as she entered, startling the robots. She moved to the clothing stands, picking through them for something the captain would like. "You need clothes."

The robots looked like they were about to shoot her. Jack killed them with his own gun. The Master raised a curious eyebrow. "You don't want to know." Jack answered.

She tossed him the clothes with a wink. "Let me be the boss of that."

She also forgets that humans and timelords are different when it comes to biological sex. Where certain things are and the like. Timelords don't need to reproduce to have kids, most of them are infertile, but that doesn't mean it isn't still fun to do so.

She's also _still _not use to being a girl so give her some time.

Jack just grinned and got dressed. He was just finishing when the Doctor showed up. "You're late." Jack informed. "Maze got here before you."

"I make a better Doctor then the Doctor." The Master said jokingly. "When am I going to get my own screwdriver?"

The Doctor smiled, before frowning. "Never." He said, because he truly didn't trust her with a regular screwdriver, definitely not a sonic one.

"Fine." The Master pouted, before looking towards the door. "Who's the cute chick behind you?"

Jack looked back as well to see the other girl he had brought with him. She wasn't the Master's type, but by now she knew the Doctor was prone to jealousy so she tried to make as much as possible when she could. Not being limited to only one gender made it easier, and she had gotten over that hurdle in her first regeneration. It was good fun.

Later they found out that the entire place was owned by the Bad Wolf company, which was in cahoots with the Daleks. That really got to the Doctor, and since Jack was to busy getting everyone ready for battle, it was up to the Master to keep him on track.

And she knew her time with this incarnation was coming to an end. She knew he knew, too, because he tried to send her back to where he found her before he left.

She wasn't having that, so instead he left her locked up in the Tardis.

"God damnit, Doctor!" She yelled, stomping about around the controls, looking for a way to override the lock. She could hear the Daleks out there. The Doctor was going to get himself killed, and she'd have done this all for nothing.

What did the Tardis say Rose did at this point?

She popped a squat in front of the Tardis, working quickly to open the hatch which lead to the Tardis' soul. This would undoubtedly take off many years of this incarnation, and the Tardis would know who she was, but she had to do it.

There were a few things she knew once she touched the Tardis. She knew that the Tardis wouldn't tell the Doctor, for whatever reason she had. She knew the Tardis was actually much more powerful and much more important then all the timelords combined. And she knew that the Tardis forgave her for everything.

The whaling in her head quieted, barely hearable over the sound of the drums.

She also knew that this was why the Doctor regenerated. She could see it in his face when she stepped off the Tardis. She felt Jack come back to life, and she felt the Tardis destroy every last one of the Daleks on the ship. That was when the Doctor kissed her, when he took the bad wolf out of her.

She may or may not have kissed back.

"Wow." She breathed after it was all gone, trying to act like what she imagines a human might. She couldn't faint, but she acted weak. "We should do that more often."

The Doctor smiled, a pained one but a genuine one nonetheless. She made him remember to pick up Jack (because he doesn't deserve to be left) before they left. The Doctor spent his last minutes explaining regeneration to the two of them before dying.

Jack looked at his new incarnation. He stared for a moment as the new Doctor felt up his own body, trying to figure it out.

He looked at her. "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

"Yep." She grinned at him. "Looks good, right?"

"Definitely." Jack grinned back. "Doctor you just get better and better every day."

And the Master laughed at that, because it obviously made the Doctor flustered, and she lived for teasing the Doctor. It worked well in this new body, too.

But then the Doctor, still full of Tardis energy, fainted. The Tardis started to crash without him, and people all around the world were being mind controlled.

It's like nothing ever changed.

——————

After Jack left, it was just them for a while. The Master was actually the one who suggested they pick up Martha, since she remembered the girl from the other timeline. She helped them out when they were on the moon as well.

"I like her." She said when Martha was helping. "She's cute. Can we keep her?"

The Doctor, use to her behavior by now, just ignored her and asked if she wanted to come traveling.

It was after Martha departed for good that the Doctor finally found out.

The Master always meant to make it be a dramatic thing. She planned to make it a big reveal, show that she had changed the timeline and affected his life more than he could even imagine. It was supposed to be grand.

Instead she blurted it out one day while they sat in a cafe.

Honestly, she's sure she made this regeneration buggy. When she tried to program the traits she wanted, she made it to much 'Doctor' and not enough 'Master'. The worst part was she was actually enjoying it.

"Pardon?" The tenth incarnation said, not looking up from his food.

"I'm the Master." She repeated, and the Doctor finally looked up, shock flying through his eyes. "I survived the time war by stuffing my memories into a watch and growing up human. You showed up one day and I opened the watch and remembered. I took your Tardis and flew it back to the day that you were suppose to meet Rose Tyler, but I made her sick and took her spot instead."

Wow, she didn't realize that she was holding all that in. It felt nice to let that out.

Ah, The was that faraway stare this incarnation did so well.

But then he blinked and shrugged, going back to his meal. "Okay."

The Master was confused. "What? What do you mean, okay?"

"Well." The Doctor squished his food with his fork. "It's probably for the best. My companions are always in danger, and 'Rose Tyler' would've died many times when you didn't. Plus, I can keep on eye on you, even though you aren't killing anyone anymore."

"I had to blend in." The Master shrugged.

"Or maybe you're just starting to like humans." The Doctor pondered. The Master threw a meatball at him

"I'm surprised you're not taking this worse." The Master said after a while.

"I'm surprised too." The Doctor answered. "I'm just kind of… happy."

"Happy?" The Master said, flabbergasted. "Why on earth are you happy? I've been tricking you for years now!"

"I found another time lord." The Doctor explained.

"I found you." The Master murmured, moving her hair out of the way.

"And it's my old best friend." The Doctor continued. "And she's better, saner. I don't know why you think I wouldn't be happy."

The Master looked up, making sure to lock eyes. "I still hear the drumming." She admitted quietly. "I'll probably never be free of them."

"But you've gotten over them!" The Doctor retorted. "And that's the important part. Now that I know, I can help. We can do this, together."

He had clapped a hand over her in his Doctor like way. She groaned at it, before chuckling softly. "I guess. I've been doing fine on my own."

"Let me help." The Doctor said, and the Master knew what would happen if she said yes. She's be another one of his projects, someone to fix, to cure.

She didn't really care anymore.

"Alright." She got out of her chair, going to his side. "On one condition."

"Of course." The Doctor said, in his stupid way. "Anything."

The Master smiled, leaning down and kissing him. She caught him by surprise, but didn't give him enough time to retaliate. Backing up, her smile turned into a smirk. "Great, now come on. You have a time lord to fix, and I got a room to finally take back."

The Doctor sat there with a goofy face for a moment before getting up and following her like a lost puppy.

You know what? She's happy she went about it this way. It made for a much funner experience.


End file.
